John Paul Thomas - Daily Reflections on Divine Mercy: 365 Days with Saint Faustina

Daily Reflections on Divine Mercy:

365 Days with Saint Faustina

Daily Reflections on Divine Mercy:

365 Days with Saint Faustina

By

John Paul Thomas

My Catholic Life!

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www.DivineMercy.Life

Copyright 2016, My Catholic Life!

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www.DivineMercy.Life

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Diary numbers referenced in each reflection are taken from:

Divine Mercy in My Soul: Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, Marian Press, English Edition Copyright 1987 Congregation of Marians of the Immaculate Conception, Eden Hill, Stockbridge, MA 01262, All rights reserved.

The reference number identified in each reflection of this book allows you to see the primary source that the author of this book took inspiration from for that days reflection. Though the primary text of the Diary is never quoted, nor are the reflections exact representations of the primary text, they do provide the foundational basis for the spiritual message shared in each reflection.

Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, pray for us.

DEDICATION

To our Blessed Mother, the great Mother of Mercy. May we all imitate her motherly love.

To Saint John Paul II, the great pope of Mercy. May his intercession and example open the floodgates of Mercy.

To Saint Faustina, the hidden instrument of Mercy. May your witness and hidden life shine forth as a font of Mercy for all.

BY

JOHN PAUL THOMAS

John Paul Thomas is the pen name this priest picked in honor of the Apostles Saints John and Thomas and the great evangelist Saint Paul. This name also evokes the memory of the great Pope Saint John Paul II.

John is the beloved Apostle who sought out a deeply personal and intimate relationship with his Savior. Hopefully the writings in this book point us all to a deeply personal and intimate relationship with our God. May John be a model of this intimacy and love.

Thomas is also a beloved Apostle and close friend of Jesus but is well known for his lack of faith in Jesus resurrection. Though he ultimately entered into a profound faith crying out, my Lord and my God, he is given to us as a model of our own weakness of faith. Thomas should inspire us to always return to faith when we realize we have doubted.

As a Pharisee, Paul severely persecuted the early Christian Church. However, after going through a powerful conversion, he went on to become the great evangelist to the gentiles, founding many new communities of believers and writing many letters contained in Sacred Scripture. His letters are deeply personal and reveal a shepherds heart. He is a model for all as we seek to embrace our calling to spread the Gospel.

Table of Contents

Introduction

The world we find ourselves living in today is a world of increasing violence, chaos, despair and interior isolation. Its a world in which so many are connected through the means of modern communication, such as through the daily headlines and social media. As a result, we are increasingly aware of the countless problems and tragedies that so many people face each and every day. These tragedies are becoming a means of constant curiosity, satisfaction, and even obsession for so many.

As a result of being constantly bombarded with the sensational problems in our world, we are drawn in, daily, to the painful drama of a fallen world. We see sin and its consequences everywhere we look and it takes a toll on our souls.

So how do we deal with this constant awareness of the evils, sins and pain of so many people on such a regular basis? The only answer to that is what this book is all about: The Divine Mercy.

The Divine Mercy must become the lens through which we see all things. It must become the filter for everything we take in and everything we give out. The Divine Mercy is so deeply needed today and we can rest assured that He who is divine, desires to bestow this precious gift in abundance.

What is Mercy? More specifically, what is The Divine Mercy? The Divine Mercy is the grace and love of God alive in our lives. Its God acting in us, upon us, and through us. Its God taking control of our lives and teaching us how to think and how to act. Its God possessing us so that we do not become possessed by the craziness of the world we live in.

The Divine Mercy of God is like a fountain of endless water in the midst of a parched and arid desert. Its the source of refreshment and newness of life that we all seek, whether we realize it or not. Its the deepest longing of our hearts and the only thing that will ever satiate the longing we have.

The world we live in tries to satisfy and satiate us through constant stimulation, excitement, drama and intrigue. The world is constantly offering us a false sense of happiness and fulfillment. The first step to discovering The Divine Mercy of God is to see the world for what it is. To see the lies and deceptions all around us and to turn our eyes to this font of truth and grace that we were made for. We need to turn to The Divine Mercy.

As a fountain of grace, gushing forth in an arid place, The Divine Mercy of God comes from a hidden source, keeps going and never runs out, and produces all that we need to find satisfaction in life. Its like a vast ocean that we are called to plunge into and enter its depths. Its endless and all-consuming.

Jesus has always given us images to try to describe the love He has for us. He is the loving Father, waiting for His wayward son to return. He is the Good Shepherd who seeks out the one stray sheep. He is the Good Samaritan who cared for the foreigner in dire need.

Of course, these can never fully explain the depths of His Mercy and love. Each image brings its own meaning to each person based on ones own personal experience and history. One recent gift that God gave to us is Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska. She was born on August 25, 1905 in Krakw, Poland and died October 5, 1938 in the same city at the age of thirty-three. At the young age of twenty she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Warsaw and was later transferred to Pock and then to Vilnius. It was in Vilnius where she met her confessor, Father Micha Sopoko who helped her immensely with many mystical graces she received from God. Sister Faustina was graced to receive daily private revelations from Jesus by which He revealed to her the abundance of His Divine Mercy.

At the direction of her superior and Fr. Sopoko and Jesus Himself, she kept a diary of these mystical experiences which is known, today, as Divine Mercy in My Soul: Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska.

The goal of this present book is to walk through the pages of her Diary, reflecting upon its messages over the period of a year. The Diary is reflected upon in a way that the reader will be able to easily ponder the message of Divine Mercy as it was revealed to Sister Faustina by Jesus Himself.

On April 30, 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized Sister Faustina on Divine Mercy Sunday. With her canonization, the messages of Saint Faustina continue to spread to a world so desperately in need of Gods abundant grace.

On December 8, 2015, Pope Francis began an Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy for the Church and world. This book is a fruit of that Year of Mercy and was written during that Jubilee Year so as to help each person who reads its pages to enter more deeply into the Divine Mercy of God for years to come.

Structure of this Book

Divine Mercy in My Soul: Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska is soon to become a classic spiritual book that everyone is encouraged to read in their lifetime. However, many find this invitation intimidating, not just because of the width of her book, but because of the depth of its message on The Divine Mercy in each of Saint Faustinas notebook entries. This book,